This invention relates generally to a disposable garment for personal wear, and more particularly to such a disposable garment that has a system for reducing humidity of the environment adjacent a wearer of the garment.
Disposable garments conventionally include garments worn like underpants for children and adults, garments worn like training pants for toddlers and garments worn like diapers for infants. Disposable absorbent garments designed to absorb and contain bodily fluids may include adult/child incontinence garments, toddler training pants and infant diapers. “Disposable” is generally understood to mean something that has a limited period of use before its ability to perform its intended function is exhausted. With regard to garments, “disposable” garments typically are not constructed to withstand laundering.
Disposable absorbent garments typically include a liquid permeable bodyside liner, a liquid impermeable outer cover, and an absorbent structure disposed between the bodyside liner and outer cover. To avoid leakage, the absorbent garment must rapidly take in liquid to avoid excessive pooling of liquid on the body-facing surface of the bodyside liner. However, any liquid taken in and retained by the garment contributes to the overall relative humidity near the wearer's skin. High relative humidity in the environment that contacts the wearer's skin is one of the primary causes of diaper dermatitis, commonly known as diaper rash. Diaper dermatitis can afflict almost every infant at some point in time during the diaper wearing years.
It is known to make the outer cover of the absorbent garment from a breathable material that is permeable to water vapor so that fresh air from outside the garment may replace the high humidity air in the environment near the wearer's skin. Also, it is known to incorporate humidity reducing agents (e.g., desiccants and/or humectants) into components of the diaper to reduce the relative humidity of the environment adjacent the skin of a wearer. The use of breathable outer covers and humidity reducing agents in components of the diaper has been effective at reducing relative humidity in the diaper and diaper dermatitis.
The addition of a disposable absorbent garment that effectively further reduces the relative humidity of the air near the skin of the wearer to further improve the skin health of the wearer is presented herein.